Activist Hall to hit Natural Fruit with counter charges
A BRITISH activist fighting a series of legal battles against a Thai pineapple company plans to file complaints with the anti-corruption agency and launch counter prosecutions "to prevent ongoing harassment".
Andy Hall posted on the news on Twitter yesterday after the Appeals Court dismissed an appeal by Natural Fruit and the Attorney General in one of four cases the pineapple company filed against him.
“Can announce today myself/lawyers finalising perjury prosecutions against #Natural Fruit management for false statements/|reports in court to Bangna police station.
“Importantly, we are also finalising for action against Thailand’s prosecuting authorities for wrongful prosecution in this case. I shall also be requesting Thailand’s National Counter Corruption Commission to investigate prosecuting authorities behaviour in this case,” he tweeted.
Yesterday’s case concerned an interview Hall gave to Al Jazeera in Myanmar. The Appeals Court decision was read out at Phra Khanong Court – the court that dismissed the alleged criminal defamation case on October 29, 2014 due to a flawed interrogation process.
The Attorney General and Natural Fruit cannot appeal further to the Supreme Court.
“We are relieved and glad about today’s court decision and that the legality of the previous dismissal has been upheld. The case is now closed,” said Sonja Vartiala, executive director of Finnwatch, a Finnish-based civil society group which hired Hall to do research work.
The case was one of four filed by Natural Fruit against Hall.
A hearing on another criminal case is slated for October 19 when Hall will be formally indicted for criminal defamation and an alleged computer crime relating to the publication of a Finn-watch report that alleged there were labour rights violations at Natural Fruit’s pineapple-processing plant. This second criminal case is the most serious of all four, and carries a penalty of up to seven years in prison.
National Fruit has also filed two damage claims against Hall.
Finnwatch and hundreds of other civil society organisations have appealed for the criminal proceedings against Hall to be dropped, and for the authorities to bring Natural Fruit to justice for the alleged labour rights violations.
